Practical Advice for Implementing ESD Control Periodic Checks

Want to accomplish something important? A familiar formula is write a plan, select the speciﬁcations, and then periodically test to verify that the plan is being implemented according to the test results. This is basically the requirements of an ESD control program, per the ESD Association standard, ANSI/ESD S20.20. This important standard, entitled Development of an Electrostatic Discharge Control Program, covers the requirements necessary to design, establish, implement, and maintain an ESD control program to protect electrical or electronic parts, assemblies and equipment susceptible to ESD damage.

S20.20 is a process document, and provides ESD control plan guidance; one of its requirements is having a “compliance veriﬁcation plan” as a component of the ESD control plan. Per S20.20, paragraph 6.1.3., Compliance Veriﬁcation Plan:

“A Compliance Veriﬁcation Plan shall be established to ensure the organization’s compliance with the requirements of the Plan. Formal audits or certiﬁcations shall be conducted in accordance with a Compliance Veriﬁcation Plan that identiﬁes the requirements to be veriﬁed, and the frequency at which those veriﬁcations must occur. Test equipment shall be selected to make measurements of appropriate properties of the technical requirements that are incorporated into the ESD program plan.”

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